Are you afraid of the dark?
by Omicron the IceQueen
Summary: TRADE: transforming isn't always what it's cracked up to be


Are you afraid of the dark?

Sonic was not a happy camper, oh no he wasn't. And for the first time in a long while he was showing it openly, mostly because he was along on 'his' bluff. Arms crossed loosely the hedgehog anthro lifted and fanned out his quills, a soft sound vibrating out of his would barely be heard if anyone was nearby. The sound would have still been clear enough as the barefoot runner shifted his stance, flexing one long leg and then the other as he kept up his glower.

With shades on and with much squinting involved, the runner could in fact give the sun itself a death glare as it set. It was the level in intensity that a negative blip of Chaos Energy spiked around Sonic, and had he even half the normal amount of Chaos stored in his body there was a fare change that a Dark Super would be standing here. As it was, there was only that blip and a ever so faint tingle in the base of Sonic's spines as he huffed and shifted his stance, waiting.

He had already tried to out run the sun, but the little thing of unwanted reality kicked in when Sonic found out the Zone he was in was an _island_ of all things. Thus he was surrounded by lots and lots of evil, cold, deep and _wet_ ocean water. So the runner had fled to the highest point, to stay in the sunlight that extra five or ten more minutes while below, in the lower latitudes were already shrouded in that pre-darkness.

Sonic folded his ears back, pinning them against his skull as he started to pace, five steps to the right, six to the left and stood again. "I hate this part." He muttered as the sun sank deeper into the sea, like some flaming amber disk being swallowed by Perfect Chaos...

Was it bad that suddenly fighting the water monster seemed to be a better idea than waiting for the dark to come?

At least that would be a good distraction.

Sonic tilted his head back, quills smoothing back down into their more normal clumps. For a brief moment he flashed his teeth at the hovering night, sharp white rodent teeth glittered in the last of the natural light. Sighing in resignation, Sonic lifted a hand to remove his sun glasses and toss them behind him. His normally startling clear and untainted emerald colored eyes would at once stand out to anyone that know him, for they were note ably darker in shade and tone.

"Bring it on Gaya." Sonic muttered as the last rays of the sun gave one last shriving effort to stay, and Sonic could almost believe that, before vanishing into the ocean beyond. There was a split moment of peace and stillness, were it took his body to realize, hey, there was no more sun!

_Crrraack!_

Sonic doubled over with a gasp and stumbled back instinctually away from the edge of the bluff, back into the knee high grass. There was another cracking sound, impossibly loud to Sonic as he was feeling it more than truly hearing it. His spine and ribs both started to shift and explain respectively, the change fueled by something that wasn't Chaos energy. That had never truly hurt Sonic when his physical form changed, but then the hedgehog always still had his body, of being a long leg, big lunged runner.

Not anymore...

Bones fractured, grow and healed as this change kicked in, Sonic could imagine he could almost feel his fur growing as well. Becoming thicker than any of his worst winter coats, as well as the color changing to a darker grey-ish cobalt shade, the new color faded to white in some spots. The growing quills, more spikes now, hurt more than they should, having normally very few nerve endings in things. They tingled at the base as the quills themselves seemed to bend all wrong.

A low, snarling grown came out of the changing anthro's throat, settling in his chest that expanded at the same time his muzzle extended to a longer length. Sonic bared teeth that were now true fangs as he dug his claws into the earth under him. His fur rippled as the skin underneath twitched and itched intently for a few seconds as it too stretched and grew in time with the rest of his physical form.

...it was all over, at least until the next dawn when the process would be reversed and the now altered Sonic would have to suffer through an all at once shedding.

For few moments, Sonic didn't move, taking deep near panting breaths as he sagged into the grass; adjusting to the feeling of having to being, more or less, a quadruped instead of biped. Sonic pushed himself up into a sitting position, cropped looking ear pricked as he sniffed at the night scents that were stronger now, with a larger nasal passage in the extended muzzle.

The 'Werehog's eyes widened as his stomach growled instead of him and a craving for chilly dogs and cheese covered yam fries kicked in. Sonic laid his ears back, grumbling to himself as he stood and walked off into the dark to find a place to power-nap and try and forget about food and the panic he'd cause in the small village town on this island if he went there.


End file.
